So Where Can I Find Great Leaders?

by | Jan 24, 2012 | Blog, Education

Every year around September a wave of excitement and anticipation fills the living rooms and faculty lounges of international schools as schools around the world begin to post their recruitment needs for the following year.  To any experienced international teacher or administrator it’s an accepted lifestyle choice that you’ll see your closest friends come and go as they move onto new and hopefully better jobs. This last year my wife and I “tested the waters” to see if this was the year to leave and we were sucked into the black hole of resumes and recruitment fairs.  I found myself immersed in conversations with other teachers discussing what schools had posted their job listings.  What I found interesting is how in the midst of these conversations, myself and others would make a snap judgement of the quality of a school.  For example “Did you see blank school is looking for a new blank teacher?”  “Oh that’s a great school–they pay their teachers really well.”  Or  “that’s a great school because they are building a brand new campus.”  Of course the judgement cuts the other way too as I’ve heard people say “it seems like a good school, but…well their 1:1 program is PC based…so that’s a problem.” The truth, it seems, that except for the most competitive teaching candidates many of us are attracted to a school because they either are interested in us, pay well or have a nice website (come on you know you’ve done it).  What does this say about the current recruitment climate when teachers sign contracts at schools not because there is a great match,...

How Important Is Great Leadership?

by | Jan 20, 2012 | Blog, Education

The other day I was in my principal’s office discussing this year’s PSAT results with the school counselor. In the middle of the discussion I noticed a slip of paper that was taped to side of a bookcase. The bookcase was no where near the principal’s desk, so I assume this note must have been a remnant of the last occupant of this office. The slip of paper posed the question “Just How Important Is leadership?”. A timely question as I’ve been scratching my head a lot lately wondering what to write about in this blog. On the surface this question seems simple and a bit silly as we’ve all been taught that great leadership is the key to success. Yet as I look at the world around me, especially in education, it seems no matter good or bad leadership at the top, schools manage to pump out students that live productive and meaningful lives. Even in schools where there is great leadership it’s hard to argue that the lives of each of students who walked the halls of the school are measurably better from that one person. Outside of education it seems evident that life continues to progress despite great leaders. In 2008 when Obama won the White House I thought that his obvious leadership skills would somehow cut through the bipartisan bickering in Washington, but exactly three years since he took the job things continue to seem as bad as ever, if not worse. The note went onto say “A highly effective leader is good for a roughly 30% increase in achievement for the lowest performing teachers’...